1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring over voltage protection of a battery pack and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, notebook computers, camcorders, PDAs (personal digital assistants), or the like, rechargeable batteries are intensively being researched.
The rechargeable battery is fabricated in the form of a battery pack including a battery cell and a charging/discharging circuit. A charging or discharging operation of the battery cell is performed using an external power supply or an external load via an external terminal arranged within the battery pack. That is to say, when the external power supply is connected to the battery pack through the external terminal, the battery cell is charged by the external power supply supplied through the external terminal and the charging/discharging circuit. When the external load is connected to the battery pack through the external terminal, the battery cell is discharged by the power supplied to the external load through the charging/discharging circuit and the external terminal.
In a case where the battery is charged with a high voltage due to the external power supply during the charging/discharging operation of the battery pack or cell, imbalance occurs due to a problem with the battery and an OVP (over voltage protection) operation may be generated in the battery pack. In such a case, if the OVP operation frequently occurs, it is quite difficult to determine whether the external load or the external power supply has caused the occurrence of the OVP operation.